Navalny is unsure about his participation in election of Moscow mayor

“I am not a pet, which has been thrown away, and later told to participate" the opposition leader said

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KIROV, July 19 (Itar-Tass) - Alexei Navalny, who has been registered earlier as a candidate for the position of Moscow’s mayor, has not made a decision on participation in the election yet.

“I am not a pet, which has been thrown away, and later told to participate. I shall return to Moscow and we shall decide and discuss with the headquarters,” he said on Friday following the court’s decision to release him from the pre-trial prison.

Navalny stressed he would continue the election campaign.

“In which form - as a boycott or participation in the election - is to be decided,” he said.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, head of his election headquarters Leonid Volkov announced Navalny would participate in the mayoral election if he is released.

“It is elementary: if his is released - we shall participate, if not - then not,” he said.

The Moscow Elections Commission stressed Navalny would remain a candidate before the verdict comes into force. “Until the verdict comes into the legal force, the Moscow Elections Commission would not undertake any actions to revoke Alexei Navalny’s registration as a candidate for the position of mayor,” press service of the city’s elections commission said.

On Thursday, the court in Kirov sentenced Navalny to a five-year term, and he was arrested at court. A day earlier, the Moscow City Elections Commission registered officially Navalny as a candidate for mayor of Moscow. The election is due on September 8. Oppositionist Alexei Navalny and former Director of the Vyatka Wood Company Petr Ofitserov were released at court /against written obligations not to leave the country/. Thus, Judge of the Kirov region’s Court Ignatiy Yembasinov satisfied an appeal from the regional prosecution. “The prosecution’s appeal is satisfied, the restraint to Navalny and Ofitserov - until the Leininsky Regional Court’s decision comes into force - is to be changed from arrest to written obligations not to leave the country,” the regional court’s decision reads.